Imperial Stormtroops descend on a Tau colony expecting a soft target, but as they fast-rope in, resistance quickly stiffens, For the Greater Good!

Having a hard time deciding whether it's finished, so please crit freely.

EDIT 09/12/08I am REALLY fed up of 40K geeks saying that my art is "wrong" cos it doesn't meet their understanding of canon.

I have been into 40K since 1990, I've seen 5 editions, read most of the background in that time and been influenced by art from every era.

I put a lot of work and thought into my artwork, and while I'm happy to politely debate the philosophical choices behind it, I will not be flamed by people who don't paint themselves and have a 12 year old's understanding of the source material, and sci-fi in general. Any such posts will be deleted without reply, from now on.

The best thing about 40k/warhammer is that you can create your own stories, which you reflect in your work. When your playing the games, the rule book encourages you to make up stories and scenarios. The Galaxy is a big place and who is to say that what is happening in you pic is wrong? Great work man.

Love it! The soldiers dropping down into the tau village, the tau soldiers scrambling to defend while civilians either become collateral damage or do their best to huddle out of harms way. I love the aircraft, you did a really good job on them!

It looks a lot like the Tau had just been caught off-guard in this battle not stiffened. And it doesn't clearly show that the Imperials are doing a bad job at assaulting the outpost either. It looks more like the Imperials would be the victors here, I think its the layout of the drawing that makes it look as if the Imperials are better equipped here with the Valkyries and Vendetta cutting them down. That's the way I see it.

Like its anyway, caz I play IG. But Tau aren't bad either, am planning to paint an army of Tau to display them looking as if they're fighting my IG.

thanks for the but I don't really understand your comment. I never said that the Guard are "doing a bad job" or that they would lose the battle. In fact my intention was to show the Tau as the underdogs, in order to align the viewers sympathy with them. Further, the moment depicted is supposed to be pivotal, the appearance that the battle could go either way is where the drama comes from.My description is supposed to make clear that the majority of the Tau are Earth Caste - builders, labourers and engineers - not Fire Caste warriors, so the fact they are resisting at all is a surprise to the humans.

Ignore the douche bags who can't just like this for what it is - it's a beautiful artwork, and you are a creative artist.

This kind of reminds me of District 9; the way the humans are just barging in there, shooting any aliens they see. Mean, cruel, humans who don't give a crap about other beings. It's the perfect portrayal of the Imperium in 40K

Unfortunately I have yet to see Black Hawk Down (though I hear it's a good movie). Yeah, though District 9 is newer than this I think you both were aiming for the same feel (I think... that's just my guess). Will make a mental note to see BHD - I really want to see it so I can compare this now

I was thinking a....I don't know, maybe a...I think just an ordinary book, not a graphic novel, or a comic book.It's hard for me to tell. I think what made me think that was the composition of the picture; it looks just like a scene from a story, a lot is happening in it. It seems to be (and is) attempting to illustrate an event rather than just show what some of the characters look like. It also has a kind of simple style that I must have seen in a book once and now associate with illustrations.

The Imperium is a galactic civilisation of a trillion human souls, spread across a million worlds. The colour of lasfire is dependant on the focussing elements used, and these elements vary widely. These las-weapons use blue-white crystals, which lend their colour to the energy emitted.

Death to the xenos might be too cliché a response. But i like the depiction of the imperiuam as the heartless xenofobic bastards they are. I am an Imperial player and the recent depiction of the imperium and in particular the space marines as the good guys disturbs me, as it diverges from most of the 40k background. It's good to see the Imperium acting as proper Imperials again. If I could make a wish I would say a similar picture of Tau brutality would be nice.

In Warhammer 40.000 there is no fight between dark and light, only between grey and darker colors.

aww I dunno the Tau are about as "light" as it gets, their only faults being their dogmatic approach to their "Greater Good" and the fact that, like the early Imperials during the great crusade, they actually ARE wrong about the Warp. Glad you liked the pic, anyway.

Well that says a lot about the Warhammer 40.000 universe doesn't it? That a race that has the dogma, "Join us or die" is seen as good. Wouldn't be the case in our world I recon, even with a philosophy as positive as the Taus Greater Good. Then we have to ask who controls the Tau, the ethereals are leaders determined by race , it's as if we only allowed leaders that were white and all the others would have to contend themselves with some other position in society. Even in an otherwise fair society that is grossly unfair.But yeah, compared to everyone else the Tau are the good guys.

Yeah that's true, everything is relative. I still don't agree that the Tau are all that bad tho. Their creed is not as simple as "join us or die" and they are really quite slow to resort to violence with those reluctant to join their empire, the emollient words of the Water caste and the manifest benefits of Earth caste engineering being the first methods applied.The racial hierarchy of the Tau sphere is certainly pretty shocking by our standards, but you forget, unlike with humans there ARE obvious physiological differences between the castes that suit them for their roles, most obviously with the Air caste. It would make no more sense for a member of the Air caste to try to rule than for him to try to become a fire warrior. Besides, the empire IS ruled by councils of all castes, subject to the guiding wisdom of the ethereals.